System of control for groups of gate-valves or the like



J uIyZ' T, 1937i H. DIENENTHAL. ,0

\ SYSTEM OF CONTROL Eon GROUPS or GATE VALVES on THE LIKE Filed Feb. 17, 1954 M 14 143 mm Eerie/'7' flwcwf/M wQQtQQQ i umrsosmrss anemia- 2 1. 931

PATENT OFFICE, 1

amen

nvent on and; w system of control for groups of gate-valves, sliding sluice valves or the like which are inserted into pipe conduits,

suchas are, used in connection with air heating 5 plants. i

In order to actuate valves of the aforementioned kind which are. operated in groups, various schemes have been proposed. Thus, for instance, control-systems are known in which the gate- 10 valves arecontrolled by slides, in case saidgatevalves areactuated by means of compressed air,

and by electrical switches, in case said gate-.

- valves are operated by motor means and a mechanical gearing, said slides, oras the case may 16 be, said switches being connected inseriesso that said gate-valves can only be actuated in afpredetermined sequence. Systems of this kind, however, do not permit any changes in the sequence of operating the gate-valves. In additionto this, the driving mediumin the pressure-conduits or the current in the electrical conduits must pass a relatively long andrather complicated way which is due to the-"series connection oi the slidesor electrical switches, with the result that the operations of control can only be slowly performed and that there will be necessary a relatively long system of pressureorelectrical con duits that are rather diflicult to supervise. v

These drawbackstare avoided by my present 130 invention essentially by connecting the driving I nisms of the gate-valves or the like will be materially simplified and thepossibilities of troubles diminished, owingto the fact that the actuation of each drive for a gate-valve is performed 4 individually and independently of the actuation of the other drives. The aforementioned organ which drives all control-devices in common is coupled with thelatter in such a manner that upon actuation of said organ all control-devices 5 may be operated-in succession and in such a way that a definite position of one or more of the control-devices will correspond with a definite position or length of the operating stroke of the driving organ.

tion is made as to which control-device, and therewith whichgate-valveis in operation at the i end of each operating stroke of the driving organ.

In the drawing which forms part of this speci s5 iication I haveshown one form of construction of v This position is indicated by a. I50 mark onthe driving organ so that an indicamy present system of control in diagrammatic representation showing my new control system and somedetails thereof in connection with the employment of gate-valves or the like operated by a pressure-medium acting upon pistons within 5 cylinders and controlled by slides.

Referring now;more particularly to the drawing, the gate-valves A1, A2,. A3, A4 and As forming one of the aforementioned groups are represented side by side and are operated by pistons each moving within one of the compressed air cylinders B1, Ba, B3, B4 and B5. Said cylinders are connected each by means of two pipe-conduits with one of therotary valves C1, C2, C3, C4 and Cs.

ings E1, E2, E3, Erand E5. The valve-discs F1, F2,

F2. Fcand F5 mounted within the casing of said rotary valves 01,02,011, 04 and C5 are connected with the gearswheels G1,;Gz, Ga, G4 and G5 which are preferably in mesh with a; common gearwheel H rotatable byaucrank or hand-wheel J. The valve-discs F1. F2, F3, F4 and F5, however, may. also be arranged to be mutually driven by each other by means of the "gear-wheels G1, G2, Ga. G1 and G5 connected thereto or may also 1 be arranged tobe mutually driven by each other as shown, for instance, in connection with the valve-disc Fa. In the present case the gear-wheel G3 is driven, for instance, by the gear-wheels Ga and G4. The control system described in the foregoing operates as follows: If the indicator U on the hand wheel J is moved from the mark i to the mark 2, then the rotary valve F1 willenter into the position shown in the drawing and then compressed air will flow in the direction shown bythe arrows in the drawing. In the moving of the hand-wheel from the mark I to the mark 2 thus the gate valve A1 closes. The other rotary valves F2, Fa, F4 and F5 will'now likewise be rotated; these valves, however, are so constructed that during such rotation no opening or closing of the v remaining gate-valves can take place. Opening or closing 01' said gate-valves is effected only upon further rotation of the hand-wheel J. It the hand-wheel J is rotated with the pointer U as far as to the mark 3, the rotary valve F: will have been rotated to such an extent that compressed air may enter from above into the cyl- 56 inder Ba and that the compressed air underneath the piston insaid cylinder may discharge through the outlet opening E2, so that the gate-valve A: will be closed. Upon rotation of the handwheel J with the pointer U as far as to the mark 4 the rotary valve F: is rotated to such an extent that the gate-valve A: will'be closed. In this manner the gate-valves A1, A1, A3, A4 and As may be individually operated, the pointer U at the hand-wheel J indicating the gate-valve at any time in operation.

In order to prevent further rotation of the hand-wheel J and therewith interruptions in the motion of the valves before completion of the several piston strokes, that is, while the gatevalve is still in motion, said hand-wheel is locked during actuation of said gate-valves. For this purpose discs L1, La, La and L4 are fixed to the driving shaft K of the gear-wheel H and of the hand-wheel J, said discs being provided at their peripheries with'notches M, all as shown in the lower part of the illustration. Pawls N co-operate with said discs L1, La, La and L4 in such a manner that they may engage within said recesses M in said discs. Engagement of said pawls within said recesses may be eifected either by the mere weight of said pawls or by means of springs associated therewith. The pawls N are operated by lifting electromagnets Pin such a manner that the pawls are disengaged from the notches M, if said electromagnets P are energized. The piston-rods which operate the several gate-valves A1, A2, A3, A4 and A are equipped with contactmembers R1, R2, R3, R4 and Rs which may engage with companion contact-members S1, S2, S3, S4 and T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively. The contact-members S2, S3 and 84 as well as the contact-' members T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 are conductively connected with the lifting electromagnets P so that during engagement of the contact-members R1. Ra, Ra, R4 and R5 with the contact members 8:, S: and S4 and T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 the lifting electromagnets P are energized, causing the pawls to be lifted out of the recesses M on the discs L1, La, La and L4, thus releasing the latter. A pawl N, therefore, is lifted out of the appertaining notch only if the gate-valve has been moved either into open or closed position. Evidently also a single disc L with all the notches M thereon and accordingly a single pawl and a single lifting electromagnet may be used. In this case the lifting electromagnet would have to be energized by all contacts, so that the pawl may subsequently be engaged within the several recesses M and successively lifted out of the latter. The

mode of action of the control system as such will therefore not be altered.

By positioning the inlets and outlets on the casings of the rotary valves C1, C2, C3, C4 and Cs and by properly selecting the cross-sectional form of the valve-discs F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5 there may be attained every desired position of one valve with respect to another. Several gate-valves may therefore be kept open and others closed and likewise several gate-valves may be kept open or closed for some longer time and others for some shorter time. By this it will be possible to accomplish an opening and closing of the gatevalves in any pre-determined sequence. The several motions are controlled by the hand-wheel J, the position of the latter indicating the position of the gate-valves A1, A2, A1, A4 and As. The hand-wheel J may of course be rotated clockwise or counter-clockwise, the end positions I and 3 being secured in any desired manner by means of stops. The hand-wheel J is locked only when the operating rod for one gate-valve is in motion. The contact-members S2. S3 and S4 and the contact-members T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5 may be located in this case at the end position of the contact-members R1, R2, R1, R4 and R5 but may also be located a small distance in the rear, so that engagement of the contact members will take place only after the pistons have moved a short way. The electromagnets P may of course also be used for engaging the pawls N within the recesses M and the springs 0 may accordingly be used for lifting the pawls out of the recesses. Instead of the springs 0 evidently also a second electromagnet may be used.

Instead of the rotary valves C1, C2, C3,'C4 and C5 and the valve-discs F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5 there may evidently also be used slide-valves or similar control organs. Such slide-valves may be arranged side by side or also one in the rear of the.

other and reciprocated by a single rod by means of a lever or the like. The inlet and outlet openings are in this case so arranged that the desired connections are established by the several positions of the slide-valves.

I claim:

Apparatus for controlling .a group of valves of air heating installations and the like, each valve having a movable closure member, including in combination a separate piston for each valve, means whereby said piston moves said closure member, a cylinder for each piston, separate conduits for conveying a pressure medium to said cylinder at each side of said piston, a separate control member for each cylinder, said control member being connected to said conduits, whereby the pressure medium may be admitted to said cylinder selectively on either side of said piston, a common operating member, all the control members being operatively associated therewith and arranged around the same, said common operating member comprising a drive shaft, and a hand wheel connected with said drive shaft for actuating it, thus causing the control members to be operated in definite succession, and means associated with said drive shaft to indicate which one of the control members is in operation at any time.

. HERBERT DIENEN'I'HAL. 

